Ellie Dixon

Fine Lines Are Easy to Cross

I backed away when the walkers piled into the fence. "Told you it'd come in handy."

"What do we do now?" Sophia asked as we started walking around the outside fences of the prison. We knew the exit where people would've escaped from... If they escaped.

"We find the rest of us." I answered.

"Who did you see escape?" Sophia questioned as we were walking through the forest, away from the prison. I couldn't answer her, Sophia stopped in her tracks at my silence, so I turned to face her. "You didn't see anyone get out?"

"The bus is missing. That's gotta mean something." I stated.

"Okay... But how do we find the bus? We can't follow the road without the Governor's people getting to us. Dad didn't teach us enough about tracking to follow any people that may have gotten out on foot. Ellie, this-" Sophia cut herself off as she ran a terrified hand through her hair. "What if we're the only ones? What if nobody else got out? What if it's just us?"

"Hey, remember what I told you after we left the farm? Just me and you?" I questioned.

"There's a fine line between the beginning and the end." Sophia replied quietly.

I nodded. "Exactly. People must've have gotten out, and we're gonna find them. This may be a shitty beginning, but it's a beginning."

"Thing about fine lines, Ellie? They're easy to cross... Mum left us. She left. After everything... And now we don't know where dad is, or Maggie, or Beth, Glenn, Carl, Rick, Lizzie... Hershel's dead. We have no food. No way to track our people. Nowhere safe to go too." Tears started running down Sophia's face.

I walked towards her and brushed the tears off her face, I didn't say anything before pulling her into a hug. She cried while holding me, her body shaking. I wanted to cry too, I had the tears in my eyes and the pain in my heart ready too... But, Sophia needed me. I needed to be strong for the both of us. "We haven't crossed that fine line yet, Soph."

When we pulled back, I stepped to the side and saw the prison. A lot of it had exploded, walkers littered the field and the yard, but more were still going into it. Our home had been destroyed. "I can't believe you were right."

"I didn't wanna be. And even though I was expecting it... I didn't expect it to hurt this much."

Me and Sophia had gone to the town that was eight miles away from the prison. It was dark by the time we'd entered the town. We'd run into quite a few walkers who had all been drawn to the loud noises at the prison, but nothing we couldn't handle. We went into one of the houses and we headed upstairs. Sophia took off her bag and instantly flopped down onto the bed. "Do you think there's supplies here?" Sophia asked, leaning against the pillows.

I barricaded the door with the dresser, just to be safe. I went over to the window and looked out to the neighbourhood. "No. Me, Glenn and dad already sweeped this town. Got all the supplies. It was right when we got the Woodbury people in so we grabbed everything we could." I explained, sitting down on the window seat and pushing the window ajar to let some air into the stale room.

"That's why the door was unlocked." Sophia realised.

"You can thank Glenn for that one. Wanted to prove he could pick a lock." I laughed, taking my bag off and placing it on the floor.

"What are we gonna do?" Sophia questioned, shutting her eyes.

"You're gonna get some shut eye. An hour after sun rise, we'll try and get to somewhere with supplies." I answered, leaning my head back against the wall.

"You're gonna try and sleep too, right?" Sophia asked with a yawn.

"Maybe." I answered. "Night, Soph."

"Goodnight, El." Sophia whispered.

Not long later I heard soft snores coming from Sophias direction. As soon as I did, the tears brimmed my eyes. I pulled my legs up to my chest and put a hand over my mouth as I sobbed. I kept it as quiet as possible, but all I wanted to do was scream and cry, have my dad hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay. I didn't even know if he was alive. My body shook with the horror of what had happened that day, my face was soaked within seconds, my eyes stung and so did my chest. 

My heart ached for Hershel. I thought about Beth and Maggie... If they made it out, how much pain were they in right now? They just saw their father be half decapitated. 

I thought about mum. She didn't know what happened, what if she came to see how things were going? What if she drove right into a walker den? What if she just lived out the rest of her days happy that we were safe at the prison?

I thought about Carl. Did he make it out with Rick? Would he be okay? Was he alive? What if Rick didn't make it, what would he do? 

I thought about Michonne. She was right in the middle of it. Did she crawl away? Did somebody catch up to her? If so, what side were they on? Did she get away? Was she safe?

I thought about dad. Where was he? Was he okay? Did he make it out? Was he on the bus? Was he alone? I didn't want him to be alone. Did he think me and Sophia made it out? Did he think we were dead?

Then I wondered if any of it mattered. I wanted everyone to be alive and okay. I wanted them all to find somewhere safe. I wanted me and Sophia to find somewhere safe. But, what if we never saw them again? What if we all live out the rest of our lives, under the same sun, the same moon... But we never see each other again. I looked up to the moon, we were all under the same one. Whether they'd been shot, eaten by walkers, or they made it out. We were all under the same moon.

Looking out towards a tree, I smiled as I saw a squirrel eating berries off a branch. The little bit of nature made me happy. It showed me that there was still life out there. However, the squirrel didn't notice the walker behind it in time. The walker grabbed the squirrel and instantly started feasting on its little body. As it squeaked in pain, I looked back to Sophia. I guess that's just what the world has come to now. Any thought you have of possibly having a better future is crushed by walkers.